Panorama preliminaries lost its way

THE EDITOR: It’s with great concern that I write these few lines to voice my opinion on the present situation with Pantrinbago’s Panorama. I have waited until after Carnival when cooler heads prevail to pen my observations. This has been happening for the longest while, and nobody seems to have the guts to either say or do something about it. The present administration of Pantrinbago is doing their utmost to kill the Panorama contest in Trinidad. Every year Pantrinbago comes up with new and foolish ways to change things that don’t need changing. A few years ago they started with taking away the Panorama preliminaries from the public by holding it at steelbands pan yards. I mean how foolish can they get?

The amount of money that is generated when Panorama is held at the big yard is enormous. The public is happy, it’s like a big fun and family day when people from all the country come to support their favourite steelbands. The big yard is where it should start and end. With this system not much revenue is generated by the bands, maybe the big bands who have large venues are better equipped for that fiasco. It’s very hard and unfair for a panman practising for Panorama in his panyard to be knocked out without even leaving his panyard. He can’t even get his ten minutes of fame in the big yard, win or lose. Pantrinbago must stop this immediately and bring the Panorama prelims back to the Savannah back to the people.

VALENTINE YOUNG
New York